updated 10:15 pm EDT, Wed June 1, 2011

Apple stocks out of AirPort, Time Capsule

Multiplereports Wednesday night slipped word that Apple retail stores were running out of the company's wireless routers. A number of readers mention the AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, and Time Capsule all being out of stock, often all at the same time. MacRumors had heard just of stockouts, but TUAW had heard that even one store with stock might have been asked to return unsold inventory, indicating that it was a discontinuation, not just a supply issue.

Apple is still expected to keep offering networked routers. Its goals with a new router wouldn't be immediately evident. The most probable candidate is an upgrade to 450Mbps peak speeds to support the faster networking present in 2011 MacBook Pro and iMac systems. Earlier AirPort and Time Capsule devices weren't speed-constrained online, but added performance would help at longer ranges or with large transfers, such as a Time Capsule backup.

Other options could include external redesigns, the first since each of the devices went on sale, or changes to their expansion for audio out or USB ports.

Network sharing should play a larger role in Mac OS X Lion through features like AirDrop and could possibly play a role in iOS 5 for over-the-air updates.

Thunderbolt Time Capsule

No moderators?

I'm beginning to think there is no moderation of these comment sections given how long linlijunhh has been posting advertisements. I wonder if the companies paying to advertise here know about this....

And when I went to report this I was forced to watch a movie to get a "security" code to send the message!

what it COULD be ...

much larger drives, for 2 reasons
1. bring staged updates to the home
2. bring parts of teh cloud to the edge
3. stage backups, UP to the cloud, w/o loading the laptop

oops, that's 3 reasons! -- but 1&2 are the same thing

Thunderbolt backup to the (renamed) airport -- should be called 'homeport' -- very fast & solves problem of 'there being no thunderbolt hard drives'. This will actually be a TBolt Hard drive with a higher average selling price going forward. Equals continued profit margin for AAPL

homeport backs up to the cloud at leisure, comes in 2 basic models -- one if you're using it just for backup/music streaming, and one if you are using it to buffer movies/videos.

Yup, this is a strategic product, could definitely justify the rumored recall -- though I'm skeptical of the rumor.

iPad/iPhone Sync

If the iPad and iPhone could sync directly to Time Capsule, a lot of people wouldn't need a Mac. That would be a big win for those consumers. In the tech world, sometimes you have to cannabalize your own products before somebody else does it.